| Speaker | Time | Text |
|---|---|---|
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unidentified
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JD Vance in attendance. | |
| At 9 a.m. Eastern, the observance ceremony from the Pentagon with President Donald Trump. | ||
| And at 9.45 a.m. Eastern, the Flight 93 National Memorial Ceremony in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. | ||
| Watch live all-day coverage of the commemoration ceremonies marking the 24th anniversary of the 9-11 terrorist attacks. | ||
| Thursday morning, beginning at 7 a.m. Eastern on the C-SPAN networks. | ||
| Congress is back, lots to do, and here to give us an update on where Congress is on the various things they have to do is Max Cohen of Punch Ball News. | ||
| He's their congressional reporter joining us. | ||
| Thanks for giving us your time. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Your publication puts out an alert every morning with things to watch. | ||
| And this is how you let off today saying, with just three weeks to go until the government shutdown, leaders in both parties are still trying to figure out where their own positions are on spending for 2026. | ||
| Can you elaborate on that? | ||
| Sure. | ||
| So as you mentioned, government funding runs out end of September and Republicans aren't yet on the same page. | ||
| And we asked Democrats where they stood on this funding issue and they said, let us know when Republicans have a proposal. | ||
| So we're in a kind of a stalemate right now. | ||
| It's somewhat normal. | ||
| As the deadline approaches, we'll get some clear answers. | ||
| But essentially where it stands now is we're going to need a continuing resolution, a short-term funding measure. | ||
| The question is, how long will that be? | ||
| Will that be until November or December? | ||
| Or will that be into the early months of 2026? | ||
| And those are the two options as they currently stand. | ||
| What is the value from those participating of either doing it in November or doing it next year? | ||
| Yeah, good question. | ||
| So if you punt it to November, the argument from congressional appropriators, they favor that deadline, is that it gives us a little bit more time to get the appropriations bills done in regular order while still keeping on the focus. | ||
| But if you punt it to the first couple months of 2026, it gives you a lot more time, which might be more realistic. | ||
| However, as we all know, we watch Congress every day. | ||
| They don't do well without a hard deadline. | ||
| So it's kind of that push and pull between do you really focus Congress on getting appropriate done early or do you give them more time, which might be more amenable to the process, but also concurrently might actually make it harder to get a deal because it slips to the back of the agenda list. | ||
| They want more time to pass appropriations bills. | ||
| How many appropriations bills have actually been passed? | ||
| Yeah, right now, none of them passed and signed into law by the president. | ||
| The Senate and the House have passed some separate bills, but currently none of them have actually gone to President Trump's desks. | ||
| The closest bill is a military construction VA bill. | ||
| This is largely non-controversial, dealing with veterans affairs issues. | ||
| And that might be going through a conference committee this month, but even that hasn't really been kicked off yet because of this stalemate. | ||
| For all the talk of wanting to pass appropriations bills, is there a why that they a why that they haven't done so yet? | ||
| Yeah, I think it's a different composition of the Senate and the House right now. | ||
| Of course, both are controlled by Republicans, but in the Senate, they need 60 votes to clear appropriations bills requiring Democratic support, whereas in the House, they can pass appropries bills with just all GOP support. | ||
| So the Senate bills will always be, at this point in time, have more funding, because that's what Democrats want, and be more bipartisan. | ||
| In the House, with Speaker Johnson and some more conservative Republicans, they're going to be at lower spending levels, similar to what the White House would want. | ||
| Thank you for the segue, because I want to talk about House Republicans. | ||
| Are they fractured as far as this approach is concerned? | ||
| And if so, what are the blocks to watch, so to speak? | ||
| Yeah, I mean, listen, House Republicans, largely, I'd say, are united on this. | ||
| You have the appropriators, someone like Tom Cole, the chairman of the committee in the House, who was longtime seen as someone of a moderating force, someone who wants to stand up for more government spending in a way for his district. | ||
| But even people like Tom Cole are marking up their appropriations bills at the pretty drastic cuts that President Trump has wanted. | ||
| And they're really at odds with the Senate here who are trying to work. | ||
| Susan Collins and Patty Murray, the top two on the Senate Appropriations Committee, are trying to work at a higher spending threshold. | ||
| So I'm looking at this at Senate versus House. | ||
| When it comes to those thresholds, can you give our viewers a sense of where they stand as far as the House and Senate are? | ||
| I mean, we're looking at tens of billions of dollars more in spending in the Senate, which based on what President Trump and Russ Vogt and top administration officials want at the White House is not what they say is necessary to really cut funding and bring what they say is, quote, fiscal sanity back to American politics. | ||
| This is Max Cohen joining us for this conversation when it comes to the work of Congress, when it comes to funding and other issues. | ||
| If you want to ask him questions about the status of it, 202-748-8000 for Democrats, 202-748-8,000 for Republicans, and Independents, 202-748-8002. | ||
| You can also send us a text if you wish at 202-748-8003. | ||
| You had Speaker Johnson on your Punch Bowl News, a new television service that you had offering. | ||
| He talked about various things, but what's the strategy to resolve all these issues, at least where the speaker stands right now? | ||
| Speaker Johnson does not want a government shutdown. | ||
| His strategy has to be start talking with Hakeem Jeffries, start talking with Democrats, and get some sort of agreement in the next couple of weeks to avoid this. | ||
| Johnson is going to push for a short-term continuing resolution. | ||
| That being said, let's go back to March for a minute. | ||
| That's when Democrats ended up passing the Republican continuing resolution, but it also led to a massive revolt from the Democratic base. | ||
| Democrats are going to need some sort of concession from Republicans in order for them to vote for this bill. | ||
| And remember, they do need Democratic votes in the Senate, and House Democrats aren't going to go for this unless there is some sort of promise of, hey, Democrats, you get something in return. | ||
| So that's the really big question I'm watching over the next couple of weeks. | ||
| Is it going to be an extension of these Affordable Care Act enhanced subsidies? | ||
| That is one big topic they're discussing right now. | ||
| Democrats say, listen, this is going to expire at the end of 2025. | ||
| We don't want people being kicked off health care. | ||
| So maybe in return for voting for this short-term funding bill, there could also be an extension of these health care tax credits. | ||
| Is the Democratic caucus united on that front? | ||
| Get something to give something in the sense at this stage? | ||
| Yes, I wouldn't say they're united on a given policy issue yet because they're telling us just yesterday, it's too early to say what they want, but they are united on that strategy, which is we're not just going to greenlight a clean CR unless we can get some sort of policy win for our base. | ||
| That's the House side. | ||
| So if that's all going on in the House, the Senate's still dealing with these issues as well. | ||
| Give us the lay of the land where Senator Thune is on getting these things resolved and where Republicans and Democrats in the Senate are at this point. | ||
| Yeah, so Leader Thune said just yesterday he wants a short-term, clean, continuing resolution. | ||
| And he said to reporters he wants it to be as clean as possible. | ||
| So he's already setting up his negotiation standpoint and saying, if Democrats want something, that's not going to fly. | ||
| We just want to kick the can down the road a couple months, give the appropriators more time for a deal. | ||
| But Republicans are already signaling they're not willing to give anything yet. | ||
| Now, of course, that could change. | ||
| It's still early, but there does seem to be that dispute here where Democrats say we want something attached to this funding bill. | ||
| Republicans say nothing attached, just the funding. | ||
| And give something, what do you mean by that, that the Republicans don't want to give something? | ||
| Is that just what it is right there? | ||
| Oh, well, I mean, that could be any policy win which Democrats are demanding. | ||
| I mean, also, let's mention rescissions, right? | ||
| This is the process in which the Trump administration has said we're not going to fund certain programs which Congress has already appropriated money for. | ||
| That's infuriated Democrats. | ||
| They're saying, how can we pass any funding bill if Donald Trump is just going to single out programs, billions of dollars that they're not going to fund? | ||
| So Democrats also could ask for some sort of promise that Republicans would block a potential resistance package. | ||
| That's not necessarily realistic per se, given Trump is trying to do it even without Congress, but those are sort of the conversations when I say give something that you're going to do. | ||
| And that was on foreign aid, the pocket resident, a lot of reaction on Capitol Hill. | ||
| Let's hear from James. | ||
| James in Pennsylvania, Independent Line. | ||
| You're on with Max Cohen. | ||
| James, good morning. | ||
| Go ahead. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes, good morning. | |
| Hi, Max. | ||
| I wanted to know, Hakeem Jeffries made a statement that we will hold the line for a government shutdown. | ||
| Now, if you know, what are the Democrats going to do? | ||
| Because President Trump laid off a lot of people from the federal government. | ||
| So people don't even have jobs right now. | ||
| So don't you think the Democratic strategy should be to work with Speaker Johnson to get the continuing resolution done? | ||
| And also, just like you said, I agree with you. | ||
| We're going to have some give and take as far as what programs do need to get funded. | ||
| But I hope the Democratic strategy is just not saying, okay, yeah, I think we want to shut down. | ||
| That's not going to work too well for the Democratic Party. | ||
| What do you think? | ||
| I think it's a great point the caller made, which is this is a very unique situation in American politics. | ||
| For the past number of decades, it's been Republicans who have been the ones threatening government shutdowns. | ||
| And Democrats as a party, they're the party of more involved government. | ||
| They're the party, by and large, government workers identify with. | ||
| It's a rare position to have Democrats saying we might force a shutdown. | ||
| Now, I'm not sure when push comes to shove, Democrats may actually force a shutdown, but it is a remarkable kind of commentary on where we stand as a nation right now, where there is such incredible anger among the Democratic base at President Trump and at what his government is doing that the party, for one of the first times, that at least I can remember, is saying a shutdown might be preferable to what the government is currently doing. | ||
| But again, I think a government shutdown, by and large, will not be a comfortable position for Democrats to be in because the question I always ask is, let's say we are in a government shutdown, right? | ||
| This might actually be a preferable situation for some Republicans who say the government needs to be pared down anyway. | ||
| Let's reduce it to essential services. | ||
| How do Democrats then negotiate their way out of a government shutdown? | ||
| That's the open question that I have not heard an answer to yet. | ||
| Talk about the timeline. | ||
| In essence, they have what we've heard is the end of September, but it's not really that. | ||
| What's the actual timeline that has to be done in order to resolve this issue? | ||
| Yeah, it's end of September, but this can really be fudged if they pass a bill that expires a couple hours after that. | ||
| That's not really a problem. | ||
| The government can go through these measures, which says even if the funding bill is past the deadline, as long as within a couple of hours, nothing actually happens. | ||
| No one's laid off. | ||
| But we're still a ways away, I think, from those conversations. | ||
| And in the past couple of years, let's think back, there were no government shutdowns during Joe Biden's term at all. | ||
| So Washington has not dealt with a government shutdown since 2019 when Trump had that dispute with Schumer and Pelosi over funding for a border wall. | ||
| And we all remember that lasted a very long time. | ||
| So I'm glad you're bringing up the details of the shutdown because this is something this town has not dealt with for six years now, essentially. | ||
| Let me clarify myself. | ||
| An actual days are concerned because if I understand they have a break coming up and there are other issues as well. | ||
| So the actual number of days is really short. | ||
| Let me clarify myself there. | ||
| Yeah. | ||
| Exactly. | ||
| And there are recesses coming up for the Jewish high holidays. | ||
| I think the entire week of September 2020, 22nd, that week is going to be blocked off for a recess. | ||
| So it's actually a much shorter timeline than it appears. | ||
| They return to D.C. that lasts with around four to five days left in September. | ||
| And that's when really it's going to be crunch time. | ||
| A viewer asked about the House. | ||
| He talked a little bit about this by why House or Senate Democrats would support a continuing resolution without those concessions of Speaker Johnson. | ||
| They need something to get into it, I suppose, is what he's saying. | ||
| Yeah, I mean, I think that's fair. | ||
| But also, I'm still skeptical Democrats when push comes to shove would lead to a shutdown knowing that it would impact many of their voters and also there's an argument that it could give President Donald Trump even more power to go about his cost-cutting measures which Democrats have so opposed. | ||
| When it comes to the Senate side, another topic altogether from funding. | ||
| Senator Thune started a process yesterday because he wants more of the president's nominations pushed through the Senate. | ||
| Talk about how we got to this point. | ||
| Sure. | ||
| So a number of executive nominations, sub-cabinet nominations are called. | ||
| They're not the top cabinet officials, but they're still important roles in government. | ||
| Democrats have been blocking quick consideration of these nominees. | ||
| In past Senates, it's standard practice for one of these sub-cabinet nominees who have advanced from a committee with bipartisan support, or even sometimes with unanimous support, to be voice voted clear by unanimous consent on the Senate floor. | ||
| This year, because Democrats stand in stark opposition to President Trump, none of that has happened. | ||
| No nominee has passed in that quick manner. | ||
| Democrats are forcing individual votes on each of these sub-cabinet nominees. | ||
| This has really frustrated Republicans. | ||
| They've said, look, this is not normal. | ||
| When President Biden was in office, we allowed a lot of these similar nominees when Biden did it, just to be clear very quickly, Democrats are forcing a vote on every single one. | ||
| And that's led Thun and Senate Republicans to say, if they're going to oppose the nominees in this manner, we're going to tweak the Senate rules to allow us to clear. | ||
| In this instance, Thune teed up 48 nominees to be clear at one time if the rules change is successful and that would kick in next week. | ||
| As far as the numbers, does he have the numbers to make that change? | ||
| Yes, because what they're going to do is require the nuclear option. | ||
| There's going to be a vote to override the parliamentarian, as we understand it, and that's going to be at a simple majority threshold, will not require any Democrats. | ||
| We'll continue on that topic, but let's hear from Rebecca first. | ||
| Rebecca joins us from Pennsylvania Democrats line. | ||
| Hi, Rebecca. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Go ahead. | |
| Yes, good morning. | ||
| My concern with another government shutdown battle like this, every time our government shuts down, it's extremely expensive for us to do. | ||
| Already our government is spending like a drunk sailor after all of Trump's executive orders and doge cuts to food and health. | ||
| It seems to me that at this point, they have already dismantled so much in this administration that perhaps the Republicans should be over working with the Democrats. | ||
| Instead of the Democrats always being the scapegoat, Democrats need to do this. | ||
| Democrats, you know, I just think everything's very imbalanced, and I don't think that our country is going to survive it. | ||
| Okay, Rebecca there in Pennsylvania. | ||
| Thanks for the call. | ||
| Yeah, I think there's a lot of frustration among Democrats in Washington that we hear a lot, that they always have to be the, quote, adults in the room. | ||
| And this played out a lot during the previous Congress when you had the Democratic Senate and the Republican House. | ||
| And even with the Republican House, Democrats needed to deliver votes to pass some of these government funding bills because a lot of House Republicans had a position which, I will never vote for a continuing resolution no matter what. | ||
| So even when Republicans controlled the chamber of the House, Democrats had to swoop in and deliver votes. | ||
| That's a dynamic I think might change given President Trump delivered a pretty forceful message thing to his conservative colleagues in the House. | ||
| I don't care if you don't like a continuing resolution, vote for it anyway. | ||
| I'm president. | ||
| And that's what we saw in March when it was House Republicans who actually carried that government funding vote. | ||
| Max Cohen, you don't speak for Congress. | ||
| I just want to put that out there. | ||
| But the viewer does ask the question, why didn't Congress care about the looming shutdown when they took a month-long break? | ||
| I could speak for Congress in this instant by saying the only sacred thing left in D.C. nowadays, not the only, one of the few sacred things left is August recess. | ||
| And it's very difficult to get members of Congress to not go home for that month when they have district events and fundraising and travel and time with family. | ||
| Viewers at home might not like it. | ||
| I'm not saying whether it's good or bad. | ||
| I'm just saying the fact, which is August recess is sacrosanct for these members. | ||
| This is from Jason from North Carolina, Independent Line. | ||
| You're on with Max Cohen of Punch Bowl News. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Go ahead. | |
| Good morning. | ||
| I was just calling to say that I'm a Democrat and I think they should do the shutdown. | ||
| For years, the Republicans have basically done what they wanted to do, especially this year under Trump. | ||
| And that, you know, he just, you know, rescissioned whatever else. | ||
| So I just wanted to get your... | ||
| Okay, but I'll stop you there only because you're calling on the wrong line, but we got your thought out. | ||
| Mr. Cohen, go ahead and respond. | ||
| I think it's a really interesting encapsulation of where Democrats are right now. | ||
| A lot of the party says we want to fight. | ||
| We almost want to replicate what Republicans did during the Tea Party movement when opposition and shutdowns were the name of the game. | ||
| And I think that color is reflective of a lot of Democrats who look at their party right now and aren't happy with how they're approaching Trump. | ||
| To what degree does that sentiment hold from the last time they supported an effort like this? | ||
| Is this like a leftover resentment of doing that decision, or are there other factors there too? | ||
| I think so. | ||
| I think leftover resentment is a good way to put it. | ||
| People look back to March and say, you just funded the Trump government you're so upset with. | ||
| Why didn't you put up more of a fight? | ||
| Why didn't you even force a shutdown? | ||
| I think, you know, regardless of the details of how the shutdown will go, I think a lot of Democratic voters are saying, at least try something. | ||
| At least show us you're willing to disrupt business as usual. | ||
| Back to Senator Thune for a second. | ||
| You talked about his efforts, his decision on nominations. | ||
| There was a reaction on the Senate floor from Senator Schumer about specifically that. | ||
| I want to play that for you, and then we'll get some context from you. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Sure. | |
| At the end of the last work period, Democrats were working in good faith with Republicans on nomination package to move through this chamber. | ||
| Senator Thune was very involved. | ||
| He seemed very willing to come up with an agreement. | ||
| And then at the last minute, of course, Donald Trump said literally to me, go to hell. | ||
| And the talks fell apart. | ||
| Was there any integrity? | ||
| Was there any backbone? | ||
| Was there any strength to say to Trump, we have an agreement? | ||
| Take a walk, no way. | ||
| And so now, rather than giving those talks another chance, Republicans would rather change how the Senate operates. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The House has been in recess, but is now gaveling back into session. | |
| We take you there live here on C-SPAN. | ||
| The first electronic vote will be conducted as a 15-minute vote. |